Burn It Up
by MajinSunny
Summary: SE/OC MOVIEVERSE. I guess its true when they say opposites attract?He's hot, she's hot...Togeather they Burn It Up... my first GI JOE...be nice     M for cussin and sexin...
1. Chapter 1

BURN IT UP

**Ok Hello people…After much deliberation I have decided to make a fan fic of a different category, I guess lol. I will let you all know first round I am really unfamiliar with the GI JOE fandom. I watched a few epis of the cartoon and that's it, so my story will be based off of the movie. So work with me. I promise to make it enjoyable ok?=] Hope you dig it. And I by no means own GI JOE or its characters, but I do own my OC. **

Li Ming Roberts was far from what you would deem 'average'. She was born to a Chinese mother and a Jamaican father on a sunny summer day in Brooklyn June of '87. Li Ming never met a father; he was deported from the states while her mother was still pregnant with her. From what she heard, her parents weren't together anyway, not to mention he was a dead beat who had no intention of being a father to her regardless. She had no real memory of her mother; she died when Li Ming was only 8 months old, from breast cancer. So she was left to be raised by her maternal grandmother.

Being brought up by her Chinese grandmother wasn't so bad. She was a sweet old woman, with a big heart and a beautiful soul. What was bad was going to school and being constantly teased for how she looked. Her honey colored skin and dead set Asian eyes made it obvious she was mixed. She was the brunt of cruel jokes and pranks. One day in the 3rd grade during recess a group of boys were making fun of Li Ming's grandmother. Usually she just ignored them and tried to block them out, but that day she just snapped. She got up from her sitting position on the swing, and stepped into the boys face. The next thing she knew she delivered a swift punch directly in the middle of his face breaking his nose, one more to the jaw knocking out an already loose tooth, and a wicked uppercut sending him flying onto his back.

From the 3rd grade incident, Li Ming gained a reputation. Needless to say she wasn't being teased anymore. Surprising everyone including herself, she was a natural at fighting, and she only got better and stronger as she grew older. When Li Ming was nine years old her grandmother died of a heart attack, leaving her a ward of the state.

Now officially an orphan, with no friends she became wild and reckless. The loss of a whole entire family before she was even ten put Li Ming in a 'Fuck it all' state of mind. She went from orphanage to orphanage, foster home to foster home. Never staying in one place to long because of her aggressive and explosive attitude. She was always quiet and stayed to herself because she didn't trust or care for anyone but herself. Whenever she was questioned as to why she was the way she was she answered with her fists, making sure they got the picture the first time.

Officials and caregivers put her in boxing, kung fu, and even fencing to help tame the fighter in her, which it did for a little, but mostly it conditioned her and helped train her to become even more fierce. She was a tiny and petite girl with fists as heavy as a train, and they moved as fast as the speed of light.

The years went by and Li Ming finally reached 18, and was tossed on her ass with a pat on the back and a couple hundred bucks. She moved into her own apartment and got a job at a local gym as a boxing instructor to make ends meet. Every now and again she would think of the life she missed out on, and the life she could never have. But it never lasted to long she chopped it up to fate, and rested assure that this was how she was supposed to be. Alone.

**5 years later **

Despite being a complete bad ass, Li Ming grew up to be a beautiful woman. Most people would assume that a 'young lady' as rough and aggressive as she couldn't possibly be attractive. Li Ming stood 5'3 125lb. She had long straight jet black hair with a long full bang covering her entire forehead resting just above her chinky eyes; thanks to the Chinese in her. Her curvaceous body and honey skin were a result of the Jamaican blood flowing through her veins.

It was a chilly October night, as Li Ming stepped off of the city bus and began to walk back to her apartment. She had just got off of work and the only thing she wanted to do was sleep. She glanced at her watch _11:37pm_ is what it read. She continued along in the dimly lit streets to her home. As she turned the corner of where her building was located she couldn't help but notice a white van out front. She never seen it before, but assumed maybe it was a repair man or something for one of her buildings tenants.

She entered her building and was assaulted by the warm and rank smell of urine, that she and everyone else that lived here was used too. She began her trek up the stairs to the sixth floor; considering the elevator was ALWAYS out of service. She made it to her door and pulled out her keys. As Li Ming put the key into the slot she got a 'feeling'. The kind of feeling you get when someone is hiding and watching you. She pretended not to notice anything and secretly moved her eyes left and right several times to try and catch a glimpse of someone or something through the corner of her eyes. She calmly opened her door and stepped inside.

Wait, there it was again. Someone was watching her; she could feel someone's presence. She slung her backpack off her back and into her hands. She watched her surroundings closely as she reached into her bag for the 6in blade she kept on her at all times. Once her hand was around the blades' handle she felt the presence again but this time it was stronger. Someone was quickly approaching her from behind. With a slick smirk on her face she swiftly removed the blade from her bag and thrust her arm backwards in an attempted to stab the assailant. She felt a hand block her attempt and another push her forwards, further into her apartment. Li Ming launched a spinning kick that sent the intruder into the air and then onto the floor. She quickly spun around and caught glimpse of a body completed covered in black, from head to toe. The first thing that popped into her mind was that she was being robbed.

"Obviously you don't know who you're dealing with", Li Ming spat sprinting to the intruder. She jumped into the air preparing to drop her knee into the persons gut when they suddenly moved causing her to crash into the floor. The attacker sent a punch into Li Ming's check causing her teeth to rip a gash on the inside of her mouth. She stumbled back a moment but quickly regained composure. She through a two piece combo hitting the thief's jaw and chin. She followed with a kick to the stomach and as the enemy hunched over from the blow she drove her knee into their face. She didn't even have her foot back on the floor for two seconds before she felt someone else sneak up behind her and take her into a choke hold. Li Ming was flabbergasted at this point. There was not only one, but two people attacking her. They wanted to rob her that bad?

Li Ming slammed her fist into the other attackers gut as hard as she could. She felt the person lean forward a little bit from the blow. She launched her right leg up straight in the air so she could send the toe of her Nike's into the person's forehead. Much to her surprise her foot was greeted with air instead of a skull. This other intruder had completely blocked her attack. She took hold of the person's arms, which were still wrapped around her throat and yanked downward forcing them to roll over her back and land on the floor. She saw another assailant dressed in black, but this one had a ninja appeal. Black chest amour and a black mask with a visor over the eyes. She even took notice to what seemed to be a sword of some sort slung across their back.

"What…the…fuck", Li Ming whispered to herself at the sight before her. She darted for her blade which lie on the floor a few feet in front of her but the attacker countered her by kicking her legs causing her to trip and fall. They quickly hopped on top of her resting all of their body weight on her. Li Ming felt all of the air in her lungs escaping her body through her mouth.

"Get...the fuck off of me", she gasped trying to swing her forehead into the intruder's own. The person didn't say anything but continue to keep her pinned to the ground. Through the corner of her eyes Li Ming saw the other assailant quickly approaching her with some kind of cloth in their hand. The person covered her eyes and mouth with the cloth and she caught a whiff of a sweet odor. She felt her body weakening and her mind beginning to cloud. The last thing she heard before she passed out was some police sirens approaching.

Slowly Li Ming felt her body coming back to life. Her head was pounding and she felt a stinging sensation on the inside of her cheek. The taste of the salty blood in her mouth reminded her of the recent attack and she quickly regained her senses. She lifted her head and tried to move her arms, only to discover she was in a chair with her arms tied behind her back. The light in the room stung her eyeballs and she blinked about a million times trying to steady her vision.

"Glad to see you're finally awake", she heard a voice speak to her. Li Ming's vision finally settled and she locked on the target of the voice. An older man sat on a chair in front of her with his hands neatly folded and resting on the table that sat between them.

"Who the fuck are you?" Li Ming shot back her New York accent oozing from every syllable. The man didn't rely, just smirked at her. At this very moment she looked around the room and took in the gray walls and the steel table and chairs. It reminded her of an interrogation room. Was this guy a cop?

"My name is Hawk, General Hawk". Li Ming's chest was rising and dropping from rage. She needed an explanation to what was going on and she wanted it now.

"What the fuck is a 'General Hawk'? Where am I? Why am I here?" she was spitting the questions out back to back. She heard a metal door behind her open, a few foot steps, and the door closing. She saw the two assailants that had attacked her back at her apartment. Li Ming balled her fists and as the adrenalin soured through her body. She wanted to tear those too apart. She shook and pulled at the ties on her wrists and kicked with her feet, trying to break free. To no avail the chair was bolted to the floor. The assailant with the regular black mask removed it. To Li Ming's surprise it was a woman with long red hair, and fair skin. She had a round black and blue mark on her cheek, Li Ming knew it was from the punch she laid onto her. The other person stood beside the woman, and didn't remove their mask.

"Scarlett, and Snake Eyes", the man spoke pointing to both as he addressed them. "They are the ones that brought you in for us today", he said. Li Ming let out an aggravated sigh.

"What do you want!" she hollered. The man paid no intention to her outburst. He reached underneath the table and tossed a manila folder on the table in front of her. He took his index finger and opened the file, showing a picture of Li Ming with a whole bunch of writing underneath it.

"Roberts, Li Ming, Chari, date of birth June 4, 1987. Previous charges aggravated assault, Assault with a deadly weapon, Assault and Battery, Malicious Assault, in which you spent a year and six months in juvenile detention. Reckless endangerment, Disorderly Conduct, and Grand theft Auto in which you spent two years in state lock up." 'General Hawk' stopped and brought his attention back on to Li Ming. It didn't bother her any that he found dirt on her wild past. In a way she was proud of it.

"What's that information to you"? Li Ming asked through gritted teeth. He slickly grinned at her again and continued

"Also well trained in the art if self defense, martial arts, boxing, and fencing", he sounded impressed. "Straight A student up until your 11th grade year of high school….until you dropped out". Li Ming rolled her eyes at the comment.

"So what?" she replied.

"You are here because of you skill in hand to hand combat. Your training and natural ability clearly prove your talents and skills, are unique and one of the best. All you really lack is some discipline…but we can help wit that".

"What the hell are you talking about?" Li Ming was starting to think she was in a movie or something.

"We are an elite military unit comprised of special operatives known as G.I. Joe. Made up of the best of the best in everything and anything you can think of." Li Ming stared into the man's eyes trying to take in everything he was telling her.

"Usually we aren't interested in non-military, but in your case we've made a special exception. You were brought here so we can extend this offer for you to join our cause." Li Ming shook her head in disbelief.

"You've got to be kidding".

"Actually, no where not", the red headed woman spoke, rubbing the bruise on her cheek. The other figure with the mask just stood solid staring her down behind the mask, she felt it. General Hawke broke her concentration

"What do you say Roberts, in, or out?" he questioned. For a moment she was silent. Considering her options. Take a chance and do something different, or go back to her old life. She thought back to her life when she was younger in the system…_Never in one place for too long. _She was a rolling stone, what did she have to lose? Or what did she have to gain?

"What's in it for me?"

A/N OK guys end of chapter 1…so what do you think? I'm doing my best so please be nice =] This chapter was mainly to establish my character, I hope you guys understood and appreciate it! LATER!


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

**No reviews as of yet, but some have saved this story to their favs and some alerted it. So I guess that means continue right? LOL You can review anytime now people =]**

Upon accepting the request to join the Joe's, General Hawk, explained a few things before sending her off with Scarlett. Mainly that she would have to go under some extensive training before being considered for a real life mission and some rules and regs that all Joe's had to abide by. It was a quick run through; the general was clearly a busy man. Once he was through the door, the ninja looking guy General Hawk had referred to as Snake Eyes, untied her hands. Once her hands were free Li Ming looked at the masked man once more, for some reason she was expecting him to say something to her. Of course he didn't, he just gave her a courteous nod, as if he was excusing himself and left.

"He doesn't speak", Scarlett said with a smile, noticing the confusion on Li Ming's face.

"Why not?" Li Ming asked still looking at the door puzzled.

"He doesn't say" Scarlett answered, walking towards Li Ming. "And in order to communicate with him you're going to have to learn sign language", she continued.

"It's been a while since I used it, but I learned back in Jr. High", Li Ming replied.

"Good, because you're scheduled for some hand to hand with him tomorrow" Scarlett smiled. She reached down and pulled Li Ming up from her sitting position. "Now let me show you to your room while I still have some free time". Before Li Ming could reply they were out the door and proceeding down a long corridor. They entered a huge space which was clearly a hanger filled with transport craft, all ranging in sizes from big to huge.

"Wow", was all Li Ming was able to mumble out as she took in the sights before her. Scarlett led her through groups of people. Some looked like mechanics, others looked liked pilots, and even some that looked like scientists. Once they made their way through the mass of people, they boarded an elevator. As Scarlett hit the "1" button she clapped her hands together and said

"Welcome to the Pit". Li Ming leaned her back against the elevator's wall and tilted her head.

"Let me guess", she started, "The Pit is supposed to be like the secret headquarters or something like that, right?"

"Yep, you got it. The Pit s a multi level underground compound for us, and the very first level is where all of our living quarters are. The rest are made up of training facilities, heavy equipment storage, briefing rooms, armories… all that jazz." The elevator door opened and the two women exited into another corridor. Scarlett glanced at her watch and cursed under her breath.

"Looks like I'm needed for something", Scarlett rolled her eyes. "This is where I leave you for now. Your room is all the way down this hallway, just look for the door right across from Snake Eyes." She tapped her on the shoulder and turned to head back onto the lift. "The mess hall is on this floor, it's very easy to find, and you can't miss it, and if you want to get some exercise in go up one floor". As the elevators doors were about to close Scarlett threw her arm out to keep it open for another moment. "Oh and don't forget 0800 hours you need to be on the second floor training room 1 for your hand to hand with Snake!" Li Ming watched as the red head backed into the elevator preparing for the doors to close. Just as they were closing she heard Scarlett shout "And don't go in there with a cocky attitude he went easy on you last time!"

After the doors shut Li Ming rolled her eyes and turned around heading towards her new room. _What does she mean cocky attitude? And he went easy on me? Oh please I can take him any day. _Li Ming made it down the long hallway and saw the two doors. The one on her right said "Snake Eyes" printed across the door and the one across read nothing. She opened the door to her room and was taken aback by the size. She was expecting something tiny and tight like her apartment, but this room was basically a mini house.

She walked inside what seemed to be a living room. It had a large white couch and flat screen plasma across from it. To her left was a small dining area, it had a wooden table that world seat two. She went further back from the living room and found her bedroom and bathroom. The bedroom came stocked with a queen sized bed and a walk in closet where she found all of her belongings neatly hanging up, all her shoes neatly aligned on the bottom. Li Ming smiled at the sight of her belongings, she had completely forgotten she even owned anything, and was thankful that the Joe's had enough common sense to bring her things along with her.

Her bathroom was decent sized. Had all the amenities it was supposed to, along with a mini linen closet. Li Ming sat down on her bed and took one more look around. She shook her head in disbelief again not fully believing that she had been recruited by some top secret military unit. She was getting paid double the yearly salary of a doctor, and getting her criminal record expunged all to help save the world from bad guys. Not a bad trade off in her mind. She took a glance at the clock beside her bed and it read '7:45pm'. She recalled Scarlett informing her that she had a hand to hand combat session with Snake Eyes the following morning. Not really worried about it, she decided she wanted to be prepared for it anyway, so she decided she would go get some training in beforehand. Li Ming changed into some black sweats and a training bra, and a pair of Nike's.

Li Ming closed her room door behind her and made her way to the elevator. She pressed the button that would take her to then next level up. When the elevator doors opened the very first thing she saw was a workout room. When she entered it was empty but stocked with a range of treadmills and elliptical on one side and an array of weights and strength training machines on the other. As she looked around the gym she saw a punching bag in the far end of the corner. She went over to it and punched it in a few places as if to test it. Pleased with the bag she began to stretch a little preparing for her practice session. Good thing for her it was black and she imagined the punching bag in front of her was the famous Snake Eyes. She went to work, fully confident that the following morning was going to go her way.

Snake Eyes sat on the floor of his room Indian style, in deep meditation. He sat quietly and calmly focusing on his breathing, and clearing his mind. Out of nowhere he sensed another presence and quickly opened his eyes ad standing up. He stood in front of his door looking through the peephole to see who was there and it was the new recruit Li Ming. He watched her open her door and close it behind her. Across from me? He thought to himself. He walked back to his bedroom and took his Katana from its case and began to run a cloth over it.

He wasn't too thrilled about her honestly. She seemed to have an extremely bad attitude, looked like she lacked a lot of respect and discipline. Not to mention they stuck him with the job of sharpening all of the skills she lacked. Snake Eyes let out a deep sigh just at the thought. He didn't want to be judgmental, because that wasn't the type of person he was, but it was hard to NOT imagine Li Ming any other way.

Snake Eyes slid the sword back into its case and folded his arms. He wasn't going to pass judgment on the new girl. He was going to stick to the book and help train her to get her ready for missions, nothing more. If she indeed lacked respect, or discipline, he would help her to attain it. He was distracted from his thoughts by the sound of her door opening and closing again. He waited a moment before silently opening his door just enough to watch her through his visor. She was walking towards the elevator, and once she boarded, he quickly shut his door. He assumed she would be going to one of the training rooms. Considering she was new around, she didn't have any business going anywhere else.

Snake Eyes smiled silently tom himself behind his mask. He was pleased to see her take initiative to prepare for her first day. Tomorrow he and everyone else willing to watch was going to see what she was made of. Snake Eyes walked back into his bedroom and reached for his Uzi's; it was time for him to clean them.

**A/N This chapter isn't as long because I don't want to rush anything. I'll just break this part of the story into two chapters. =] I hope somebody like enough to review =]**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

A/N Sorry I took so long to update everyone. I didn't mean to disappear like that. I have another story that I had to update, and then last month I lost someone very close to me. I couldn't bring myself to write, but I'm feeling a little better and ready to continue the story with you guys!

Li Ming leaned her body against the wall to catch her breath. As she inhaled and exhaled she could feel droplets of sweat sliding down her back. Her bang was pasted to her forehead and she could feel the back of her hair starting to curl from the moisture. She had just finished an extremely intense workout. Not to say that she _never_ worked out that intensely, but she wanted to go the extra mile to be prepared for her session the following morning with Snake Eyes. She wasn't too worried about it; she figured she would be able to take him down anyway. Li Ming shrugged off the thought as she brought her attention to the clock above her. _1:30am_.

"Shit.", she mumbled to herself. She completely lost track of the time, if she stayed up any later her body and mind wouldn't be rested enough for tomorrow. She proceeded out of the gym and down the hall to the elevator.

Once out of the elevator Li Ming made a quick pit stop at the mess hall before she headed back to her room. She walked through the double doors into a pitch black hall. Upon entering although she couldn't see anything, she could sense that this area too, just like everywhere else here, was humongous. She walked slowly and carefully, her arms outstretched in front of her trying to avoid crashing into a wall or table. After a few more steps her hands made contact with a cool hard surface. She felt around examining the surface with her hands, and realized it was a bar. She ran her hands along the bar to help guide her around it when the lights suddenly came on. It surprised her because she thought she was the only person in there, much less awake. She turned to see who it was and was surprised to see of all people it was the 'ninja' Snake Eyes.

She watched him as he walked closer towards her. Once he was about five feet away he nodded politely to her and walked past her, stopping at the fridge. She felt a little strange being in a room all alone with him, especially since they were due to spar in a few hours. It was odd to her as to why she felt that way…it was different for her, considering normally she wouldn't care. She realized her hands were still on top of the bar, and she slowly removed them, wondering how stupid she must have looked to him slinking around in the dark.

As Snake Eyes was pouring himself a glass of water, she noticed right beside the fridge there was a shelf that had a box of doughnuts. She walked up to the shelf and gazed at the selection before her. She picked up a jelly filled doughnut and took a bite. She felt a smile begin to form on her face, jelly doughnuts were her favorite. She was distracted from her midnight snack from what sounded like knocking. She looked back to see Snake Eyes standing a few feet behind her, glass of water in his hand. Once he saw he had her attention he began to whisk his hands about, saying something to her in sign language. Li Ming hadn't used it in years; she only made out 'bad', from everything that he was saying. She shook her head in confusion and asked

"What's bad?" Instead of getting a reply he stood a few moments in front of her, still…and silent. He finally reached for a little pen and pad that was a magnet on the fridge. He scribbled something on it and handed it to her.

"_Doughnuts are bad for your body, especially at this hour"._ Li Ming rolled her eyes from the pad to the masked man in front of her.

"It's one doughnut", she scoffed, "I'm sure I'll be fine". Snake Eyes reached his hand out to her, signaling that he wanted the pad. Li Ming handed it to him and watched him jot something else down.

"_It will slow you down tomorrow". _ She sighed and handed him back the pad.

"Don't worry about me, I'll be fine for tomorrow." She replied. Snake Eyes threw his hands up in defeat; he waved to her and turned to leave. When he was finally out of sight Li Ming looked at her half eaten doughnut and tossed it in the trash. She couldn't help but laugh at herself. How stupid of her, to go through such a hardcore workout only to shove 400cals down her throat at two in the morning.

Snake Eyes got back to his room and began to prepare for bed. He took his visor and mask off and gently laid them down on top of his dresser. He stripped down to his black boxer shorts and lay down on the bed. As he stared at the ceiling he thought about how the following morning would play out. He wasn't going to go easy on her, for the sake of actually testing her strength and abilities. Snake Eyes wasn't the type to toot his own horn, but he was pretty sure he would be the one victorious, only because Li Ming clearly still had A LOT to learn. He put his hands behind his head and closed his eyes.

Li Ming woke up to her alarm clocks high pitched beeping. It was 6:45am and she had to prepare for her first day of training. She rolled out of the bed, and hopped into the shower. She made it a quick one; she was actually excited for the upcoming session. She wanted to show General Hawk, Snake Eyes, and everyone else that she was a force to be reckoned with. She got out of the shower and put on a red tank top and some black tights, and swooped her long black hair into a high ponytail. She slid into a pair of all black 10's and headed out the door.

She made it to the training room where she was supposed to have her first hand to hand combat training session with Snake Eyes. It was full of people, some training, some working out, and some even looked like they were fixing equipment. She spotted General Hawk and Scarlett in the middle of the traffic and proceeded to meet them.

"Morning Roberts", General Hawk smiled. "Hey girly", Scarlett said as she playfully nudged Li Ming's arm.

"Morning", she replied, acknowledging both.

"Are you ready? Nervous at all?" Scarlett questioned. Li Ming laughed sarcastically.

"Me…nervous? HA! Not at all. I'm ready" she boasted confidently. Scarlett shook her head playfully and smiled at her confidence.

"I told you once, but let me remind you…his ISN'T going easy on you this time," she warned, "you might leave here with some bruises" Scarlett laughed.

"We'll see, won't we?" she quipped. Before Scarlett could say anything else General Hawk clapped his hands together.

"Great", he began, "Snake is here". Li Ming saw Snake eyes enter the room and walked towards the trio. He was dressed in his all black get up like usual, mask and all. _What's with the mask? _She wondered to herself.

"Are you two ready?" General Hawk asked. Li Ming looked at Snake Eyes and nodded nonchalantly, and he signed 'yes'.

"Alright then, begin when you're ready" he said, stepping back. Li Ming instantly felt all eyes on her. Suddenly everybody stopped what they were doing to crowd around for the show.

"No matter", she muttered under her breath. This is what she wanted anyway, to prove her worth to the General and everyone else.

Snake Eyes stood in front of her and bowed before displaying his fighting stance. Li Ming rolled her neck around, cracking it, and balled her hands into fists, so they could crack as well. She dropped into her own fighting stance, staring Snake Eyes down with dangerous eyes. It was quiet for a moment, as the two silently warned each other what was to come. She couldn't see his eyes, but she knew he saw hers. She stared hard into the black visor with threatening eyes, trying her best to intimidate him, to let him know she wasn't going down easy, that she wasn't going down at all. The silence seemed to linger for hours, and then

"FIGHT"

Li Ming wasted no time. She rushed Snake Eyes throwing her fist in front of her aiming for his face. It didn't surprise her, when he dodged it, she saw that coming 10 miles away. Instead of thinking about it too long she sent a swift kick his way, but instead of landing into his side, she missed…again. Li Ming furrowed her brows in astonishment; he was fast…faster than her. The next thing she knew Snake Eyes was rushing her, sets of punches and kicks that were coming so fast it was taking everything in her to block them all. Literally, the next instant BAM his boot made contact with her cheek.

"Ugh!" she grunted tumbling backwards. She caught her balance and ran towards Snake. She prepared to hit him with a combination but he was too fast for her; taking hold of her fists and tossing her to the left. She swung herself around ending up behind him. She wrapped her arms around his neck and squeezed as tight as she could hoping to get him to give up, but instead he pulled her forward causing her to flip over him and land on her back. The contact between her back and the super lightly padded ground knocked all of the air out of her, and it felt like all the bones in her back were rearranged.

She jumped back to her feet and in a blind fury sent tons of erratic punches his way. She felt one make contact with his chest, she felt her stomach knot in excitement; she thought things were turning in her favor. Instead of defending herself, she was lost in her glory from the one measly punch and WHAM a punch in the stomach. She leaned forward in pain as she felt her arm being spun behind her. It was extremely painful, but she knew that he was going light on her. He could have broken her arm and put her into something more excruciating if he wanted too.

"Let her go Snake", she heard General Hawk command. Li Ming felt Snake Eyes grip on her gently release, and she dropped to the floor in pain.

"Fuck" she moaned to herself trying to catch her breath.

"I told you so", she heard Scarlett mock. Li Ming sat on the floor still holding her stomach, trying her hardest to swallow the pain; she didn't want anyone to think she was weak. She saw out of the corner of her eyes Snake extend his hand to help her up. She sat staring at his gloved hand for a moment. She wanted to tell him to fuck off, but decided against her normal judgment and took it. He gently pulled her to her feet and signed

"_Are you alright?" _he did it very slowly so she could understand. She nodded yes and looked down at the floor. Never in all her life did she ever fell so ashamed of herself, she lost and there was a room of at least a hundred spectators.

"It's alright Li Ming, no newbie can beat him" Scarlett reassured rubbing her back.

"So now you see that you need a lot of work, yes?" General Hawk spoke. "You're strong and you are fierce, you just don't know how to properly use it, and personally I think Sake Eyes is the best here to teach you." Li Ming didn't rely, or bring her eyes from the floor.

"Later on this afternoon your real training with Snake begins." General Hawk patted her on the back and walked off, probably to attend to more important matters.

Snake Eyes just stood there quietly studying his new student. Everything he expected from her did in fact come to a reality. She came in overly confident, and lost her head when she realized she wouldn't win so easily. The one hit she managed to get was pretty powerful, proving her strength, and she was good, just not good enough…yet. Her attitude did seem a little better since yesterday. It still needed some work, but he could already see a small difference.

"Snake, what do you think about her?" Scarlett asked breaking his concentration.

"_I have a challenge on my hands"._ Scarlett let out a high pitched chuckle.

"Yeah, you do. But in the end I think it will all be worth it. She's got a lot of potential." They both watched as Li Ming slowly walked out of the room. Snake Eyes didn't openly answer Scarlett, but he did hope that she would turn out to be worth it.

A/N I hope you guys enjoyed this. I'm trying not to move to fast and I'm trying to establish the story. I really hope I can update again this weekend or sometime next week, but school makes me so tired! Lol But don't worry guys I haven't nor will I ever forget about this story =]


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"Fuck, fuck, fuck" Li Ming whispered to herself as she tried to leave the training room unnoticed. She stepped through the entrance and rested her back against the wall. The embarrassment was overwhelming her as she sulked against the wall; her body throbbing in pain. It had only been one day since she had been here and already Li Ming was having second thoughts. Since she lost the match she began to feel unworthy and out of place. She definitely thought high of herself but recent events made her question herself. She stood resting her back against the wall, cradling her injured arm when she saw Snake Eyes appear through the corner of her eyes.

Li Ming ignored him as he folded his arms and leaned his side against the wall. She felt his eyes burning her skin through the tinted visor. They both sat silently for a few minutes, him staring at her, and her trying her best to ignore him and the waves of embarrassment that continued to crash upon her. She finally reached her limit and spoke up.

"What do you want?" she grilled. He didn't reply, he just continued to stare in her direction. Li Ming felt a rage building inside of her, _Is he trying to taunt me? _She felt her nails digging into her palms as she balled her fist. She snapped her neck sideways so she was now staring into the blackness of Snake Eyes' visor and she repeated, this time in a more deathly tone

"WHAT DO YOU WANT?" Snake Eyes slowly pushed himself off of the wall, and now stood erect in front of Li Ming. He began to sign something slowly to her but she couldn't quite make it all out. He noticed the agitation in her cherry reddened face and pulled a pen and pad out of his pocket. He scribbled on the sheet of paper and handed it to her.

"_What are you so ashamed of?"_ Those six little words struck a serious cord inside if her. For the first time in years she felt emotionally compromised. Just the fact that someone else knew what she was feeling, that someone else saw the shame and embarrassment that she practiced so hard to try and conceal… Li Ming quickly closed her eyes to prevent herself from tearing. She didn't answer Snake Eyes; she just brought her eyes back to the ground.

Snake Eyes waved his hand in front of her face trying to regain her attention.

"WHAT?" Li Ming shouted. Snake Eyes scribbled on another sheet and handed it to her.

"_You done well today". _

"I was terrible today! Don't come out here and taunt me about it!" Snake Eyes shook his head in disapproval at her comment. He scribbled something down on another sheet of paper and handed it to her.

"_You are strong and you do possess great potential. You lack discipline and patience, I can help you with that, but you must be willing to learn. Up to you". _Li Ming took the sheet of paper, crumpled it and tossed it on the floor.

"I don't need you to help me with anything", she growled turning her back to the masked ninja. Snake Eyes threw his hands in the air in submission, and before he turned to leave he tapped Li Ming on her shoulder to get her attention. She quickly turned around ready to tell him off but he raised his gloved hand in the air to stop her. He pointed up, made a peace sign, and pointed at her (up to you), and went back inside the training room.

Li Ming used her index finger and thumb to rub her eyes. Her head was hurting her from all the over thinking she was doing. Part of her wanted to pack her things and leave. At this very moment she missed her shitty old apartment in Brooklyn, she missed her old life. None of it felt worth it. She was about to turn and head to her room to pack and leave when suddenly she thought of her mother, and grandmother. She knew that the choices she made up until now made them spin in their graves, and how disappointed they must have been in her. She was a drop out and a delinquent with no respect or care for anything or anyone. Here she was starting up a new life, doing something productive and honorable, something that would make her mother and grandmother proud of her…how could she just leave?

It was a harsh reality, but a reality none the less. Li Ming stretched out her arm analyzing it for pain. It still hurt a little but it was better than before. She looked up to the grey ceiling of the facility and exhaled deeply as she swallowed her pride for the first time in her life, and she went back into the training room.

Snake Eyes was in the middle of the training room sitting Indian style on the thin mat. He sat quietly and calmly, as he meditated. Although in deep thought, in the back of his mind he was replaying the sparring match with the new recruit…Li Ming. Just thinking about her name made his left eye twitch a little bit. She was proving herself to be more than a handful, not anything he couldn't handle, but the question was did he want to waste his time. She clearly has some underlying issues that made her such an angry person, but what was he supposed to do about that? Snake Eyes is a soldier, not a physiatrist or therapist. He wasn't sure whether she would come back in, or choose to leave, but one thing was for sure, if Li Ming didn't want to help herself, he damn sure wasn't going to waste anymore of his time.

At that very moment, Snake Eyes sensed another presence entering the training room approaching him from behind. Never letting on to the fact that he knew someone was behind him he slowly rolled his neck around in a circular motion, cracking it. He smiled silently to himself behind his visor as he realized that it was Li Ming, pleased that she decided to come in and complete her training. He watched silently as she walked in front of him, with an annoyed look on her face. He caught hold of her glare; she was staring deeply into the tint of his visor, trying to look into his eyes he supposed. For the second time in a row he caught himself smiling silently hidden behind his black mask. It was amusing to see her staring into his face; his visor was designed so nobody could see in, only for him to see out. Only if she knew that he was staring directly back at her, he thought, he wondered what she would have done, or said.

The whole time Snake Eyes continued to sit extremely still and quiet as if he had no idea there was another life in the room, much less directly in front of him. He saw Li Ming rest her hand on her hip in agitation as she kissed her teeth, cleared her throat and rolled her eyes all in one shot. For the first time he noticed her eyes, they were brown, pretty eyes to match a pretty girl.

He finally lifted his head to acknowledge her; he nodded his head politely to let her know that he was listening. For a moment she was quiet and her face flushed, was she embarrassed?

"I'd like to continue my training", she said softly. It obviously took a lot for her to say that. Snake Eyes outstretched his hand for Li Ming to pull him up. Once Snake Eyes was standing he signed "_friends?"_ and left his hand outstretched for her to shake in agreement. To his surprise she didn't hesitate, she quickly shook his hand and nodded in extra agreement.

"Friends" she repeated quietly. Snake Eyes nodded in approval and clapped his hands together. Now, training begins.


End file.
